Snowman
by Kessie-Louise
Summary: In which Zane convinces Minerva (OC) to come inside as she builds a snowman out of spite. [Originally posted to my Wattpad and Tumblr accounts][loosely tied to RE: Time Window][Technically a next gen short][oneshot]


There were many things that could be said about Minerva Florence; her tenacity tended to be one of them. Today, outside in the first snow of the year, Zane was almost sure the child was working out of spite to get out of Kai's hair for awhile. Mina had been complaining about there nothing to do, and -doing his duties as her caretaker- Kai suggested to go outside. She didn't like the idea, but did it anyway. That was three hours ago and she was still out there.

In all respects, once she first got out there, she made snowballs and hurled them at the mixed-use building. When no one reacted, Minerva began to make a snowman. Curiosity was the first to let Zane watch what Mina was doing. He didn't watch her the entire time- but he did come back at intermittent times just to see how she was coming along.

Truthfully, Zane wasn't sure what the ten year old was going for with her snowman; it wasn't particularly human-like, but it wasn't just an organized pile of snow either. There was some sort of form to it, but for the life of him, Zane couldn't figure out what.

"Is she still out there?" Kai wondered as he joined Zane in watching the child. The Ninja of Fire was dressed as if he were the one going outside instead; dressed in a heavy knit sweater, a small quilted blanket around his shoulders, and a steaming hot cup of coffee in his hands. Zane afforded a small smile before answering his friend.

"She is." he agreed. "You must have really annoyed her this time."

Kai gave an indignant huff. "Not gonna kill the kid to go outside now and again." He paused for a moment to sip his coffee before adding, "But it's cold out there. Zane, hate to make you our mediator and all, but do you think you could…?"

"Of course." the Nindroid agreed without a second thought. "Just try to stay warm when I open the door, okay?"

Zane had turned away from seeing Kai's less than amused glare. He did hear the bitter growl though…

. . .

The look of concentration Mina made as she worked on her snowman resembled one more of anger. She wasn't angry anymore, though- she burnt that energy out after failing to hit the third floor window. Three dimensional art didn't seem to be her forte though- she knew that after trying to get this stupid snowman to look like…

"I do believe your snowman could benefit from a bit more snow on the side." Zane softly told her from behind.

"Don't touch my snowman!" the child cried out, placing herself between the mentioned snow pile and Zane. The Nindroid threw his hands up defense.

"I would never dream of it." he assured her. "I only came out to say that you should probably come inside for awhile. Kai is worried that you'll get sick."

Minerva gave a suspicious raise of her eyebrow and not moving from her protective stance.

"Why didn't _he_ come out, then?" she challenged.

To this, Zane gave a small chuckle. "If you haven't noticed, snow isn't exactly Kai's element."

The girl continued to give Zane a suspicious look as she looked him over. Slowly, cautiously, she started to relax. Eventually, she even gave him a small smile of her own. Zane offered out his hand to her, to further coax her back into their home. Mina relented and hooked her arm in his. The Nindroid tried his best to ignore the temperature reading he was getting from her fingers; she really had been outside for too long.

Once the duo were back inside, Zane helped the girl out of her winter wear and started to make a cup of hot chocolate. Minerva waited patiently at the table for him.

"You made quite a bit of progress on your snowman." Zane said as he set the cup down in front of her. "At least, I think it's supposed to be a man..."

"I'm not becoming a sculptor." Mina smirked before blowing the top of the hot chocolate. The two were silent for a bit as she took the first cautious sip, then she said to him (sounding as if she were speaking more of a thought), "His name is Iisan."

"Well, that's a wonderful name." Zane smiled. "It even means-"

"It was the name of the last Master of Ice."

Hearing this, Zane could feel his heart stop. He already knew the answer, but he asked anyway, "Before me?"

"Before you." Minerva agreed before taking another sip of hot chocolate. Zane could not help but observe her for a moment. Her body temperature was rising to an average range, which was good, but he really wished he had a way to pick her brain a bit better. So, when analyzing didn't work, simply asking was the next best option.

"Minerva," he carefully started to question, "How do you know that?"

"Cap told me," came the answer, simple and rather indifferent.

"Cap? You mean Hyun?"

"Yep."

Zane subconsciously straightened a bit in his spot. Hyun was the youngest, and only, son of Ronin from his first wife. Hyun had a lot in common with his estranged father- being a more adventurous type that was rarely one you could place absolute trust in. And, of course, Hyun liked Minerva.

"How would Hyun know that?" Zane continued to question, hoping that he did not sound as desperate as he thought he did.

Mina raised and lowered a shoulder as she took another sip of hot chocolate. "Dunno. Cap knows a lotta stuff that I don't care about."

At this, Zane had to force himself to relent. It was true- Hyun told Minerva many trivial things that the girl did not have much interest in. She probably never thought to ask on where Hyun learned his information. In some cases, it might have been the wiser choice.

"I plan on sparring with him later."

The Nindroid blinked as he came back to reality. "Hyun?" he guessed. It was a wrong guess because Minerva scrunched her face up in disgust.

"No," she spat, "Iisan."

"With what?" Zane then asked, humoring her for a moment and curious of her answer.

Minerva looked at Zane with a dead serious expression. In a still voice, she told him, "Kai didn't clean up all the twigs from the last wind storm."

Zane found himself giving a small smirk. "You found twigs longer than half your arm's width?"

The girl gave him a small, stiff nod.

"You really _do_ want to spite Kai today, don't you?"

His only answer was the sound of Minerva's long, purposeful sip.


End file.
